An $11B bonanza for space startups, and where is all that a16z money going?

Equity

TechCrunch

Founders, Silicon Valley, Finance, Ipo, Vc, Technology, Business News, Startups, Business, Venture Capital, News, Stock Market, Entrepreneurship, Techcrunch

4.2 • 365 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s Equity episode is focused on all things startups, which means we got to chat through NASA's $11 billion opportunity for space startups, Two Chairs’ recent and massive Series C, Quilt’s heat pump work and fundraise, and several IPO updates. Here’s hoping that after Ibotta and Rubrik get out the door, more IPOs follow. Also on the show today was a grip of venture capital news. Bay Bridge Ventures is raising a $200 million climate fund — it has lots of good company there, given rising LP interest in climatetech more generally — and a SpaceX alum is building a new VC firm that we covered. To close, the massive, gobsmackingly big $7.2 billion worth of new funds from a16z. We dug into their breakdown on the podcast, but the short version is that it appears that the venture slowdown has not managed to impede the venture firm’s golden touch when it comes to fundraising. Hit play, let’s have some fun!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to Equity, the Tech Ranch Podcast, where we unpack the numbers and the
0:16.1	nuance behind the headlines.
0:18.1	This is Alex and today is April 17th, 2024.
0:22.4	Welcome to our Wednesday show where we dig into the critical startup and venture capital stories
0:26.6	from the week thus far.
0:28.8	Today on the show we have an absolutely packed list that I'm very excited about. We're going to start with two
0:33.9	startup rounds that call my eye. They are in very different markets. An IPO update
0:38.7	and $11 billion bonanza for space startups. Two new venture capital funds that I think are both pretty
0:45.2	darn interesting and then to close that mammoth entrance in Horroitz Hall.
0:49.9	Let's go. First up is a startup that I keep saying is two chains
0:56.0	but actually it's not, it's two chairs
0:59.0	and it just raised a series C.
1:01.0	Let's talk about it.
1:02.0	So two chairs started off life as a
1:04.4	startup that wanted to use a matching algorithm to connect people to therapists
1:09.1	that they would then see IRL. Then COVID-L happened and the whole world went online, so the company was forced to reconsider its face-to-face focus.
1:19.0	Now, the adoption of the remote-first treatment model has helped the company grow faster and we think
1:25.2	as well less expensively than it would have had a continued to emphasize seeing patients in person.
1:31.6	And the company says that its revenue expanded eightfold in the last three years.
1:36.6	That's the type of growth that every VC wants to see.
1:39.6	Now today, two chairs has 500 therapists that see patients virtually and that Series C I mentioned
1:46.0	is worth $72 million. And it's a blend of equity and debt. Now, why does a virtual therapy network need debt?
	...

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